Exim to keep supporting SMEs, investment in Asean

July 31, 2014 00:00
By The Nation

The Export-Import Bank of Thailand will maintain its financial support of small and medium-sized enterprises and trade and investment expansion in Asean countries in the latter half of 2014 after registering net profit of Bt767 million in the first half.

Kanit Sukonthaman, president of Exim Bank, said it would provide Thai operators with services to boost business liquidity, reduce foreign-exchange risk and hedge against international trade risk in payments for goods and services.

The bank reported a Bt120-million increase in net interest income and Bt155-million rise in non-interest income from the same period of last year.

At the end of June, Exim Bank’s outstanding loans totalled Bt75.51 billion. New loan disbursement increased by Bt17.078 billion. Its non-performing-loan ratio stayed at 3.88 per cent.

About 80 per cent of the bank’s customers are now SMEs. Outstanding loans at the end of the first half amounted to Bt18.38 billion.

Outstanding merchant-marine loans amounted to Bt10.49 billion, up 21.35 per cent from the same period last year.

In the first half, new loan approvals for merchant-marine facilities totalled Bt3.73 billion for an accumulated loan-approval total for this segment at Bt14.05 billion.

In the corresponding period, Thai investment overseas, particularly in Asean markets, was supported by loans of Bt51.99 billion in international project finance. Of that total, 83 per cent was earmarked for Thai investment projects in the CLMV countries – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

At the end of the first half, outstanding international project financing totalled Bt26.91 billion. During the year, new approvals amounted to Bt6.62 billion.

The bank’s risk-mitigation facilities were Bt14.91 billion to facilitate continuous expansion of Thai businesses in CLMV.

In the first half, business turnover under Exim Bank’s export credit insurance was Bt35.68 billion. SME clients’ export value under insurance was Bt4.11 billion, or 11.52 per cent of the bank’s overall insurance turnover.